This photo was taken on my first Christmas. I believe it is at my Grandma’s. The window looks familiar, but I mostly know because it is her handwriting on the back of the photo.

I love this photo. My parents used to always dance around the kitchen when we were growing up. Sometimes my mom would push the kitchen table to the side of the room and we would have the whole connecting kitchen and living room to dance in. I remember thinking it was soooooo cool that my mom would ask us what dance moves were “in” at the time and then totally bust them out with us. She could do a mean running man. So fun. I also remember my dad teaching me how to dance and standing on his feet so I was a little bit taller. So many of my siblings are amazing dancers. They are fun to dance with – and watch. But enough about dancing. I want to focus on how sweet it is that my parents took the time to dance together often. When dinner was cooking… after Dad finished the dishes (He did them nightly. Still does. That’s love too!)…morning…evening…whenever a good song was on…when there was no song at all. Beauty. I couldn’t think of a better Valentine’s day photo.

Reminds me of Elder D.Todd Christofferson’s talk. “A consecrated life is a life of integrity. We see it in the husband and wife ‘who honor marital vows with complete fidelity.’ We see it in the father and mother whose demonstrated first priority is to nourish their marriage and ensure the physical and spiritual welfare of their children. …The consecration of many who have gone before us and others who live among us has helped lay the foundation for our happiness.”

Thank you Mom and Dad for the years of dedication to each other and your children. We are truly blessed because of your love!

“In like manner future generations will take courage from your consecrated life, acknowledging their debt to you for the possession of all that truly matters.”

Which is one reason why we have cleared out our kitchen. I did it one day to mop the floor, but we realized without the extra furniture in there we danced a lot more. All of us. And we want to continue that tradition.

Now, here is my very favorite part. Here’s the pull-back from the above photo. The uncropped version. In it’s beautiful 70’s color. I love that there is that yummy Christmas chaos going on. Toys and wrapping paper and children. Yet they are wrapped up in each other. I need to do more of that.

My dad and older siblings are in this photo. Based on ages I was probably down for a nap or sitting on my mom’s hip while she took the photo. 😉 I wish I remembered those snow people – I really dig the tie and the hair. I do have many wonderful snow memories though.

I loved playing outside for hours. We would stomp a big circle in the snow and play fox and geese. {from Wikipedia: A traditional type of line tag, sometimes played in snow, is Fox and geese. The fox starts at the centre of a spoked wheel, and the geese flee from the fox along the spokes and around the wheel. Geese that are tagged become foxes. The intersections of the spokes with the wheel are safe zones.} We built forts and had snowball fights and sometimes we went a few blocks over to the Shimer’s house and played on their sledding hill. It was steep and those big black inner tubes worked really good! Little circle plastic sleds worked good too. Even flattened cardboard boxes worked good on that hill. Sometimes when there was a deep snow we would stand on our front steps and fall backwards into the big drifts. And snow angels. We are all really good at making snow angels.

One of my favorite traditions ever is that on Christmas Eve – no matter where we are, we all do snow angels at 10 p.m. and think about each other. I’m not sure how it started (Can you help me out Ruth?). I sure love it though. Some years it’s on dirt or carpet, and one year for one sister it was in a hospital bed. I’m thankful for the time to think about each of my family and wish them a Merry Christmas under the stars.

I’m not in this photo either. This one is of my younger siblings. Forts like this were common in our yard during the winter. What I absolutely love about this photo is the child-high fort and not much snow in the rest of the yard. Every inch of snow was used. That or maybe it was built and then the sun melted most of the rest, but the fort was left standing. Not sure, but I like my first thought better. 😉

p.s. I cannot tell you how much this image of how to play Duck, Duck, Goose makes me smile:

{also from Wikipedia} Love it. Especially when the colors change. Another favorite game from growing up.

This one is dedicated to my love! 11 years (and a little bit) ago we hooked up for eternity.

This photo is from our first Christmas Eve together:

I love the dreamy feel. That’s how I felt.

We spent the week leading up to Christmas in my childhood home. Many wonderful memories and last minute wedding preparations – we got married on New Years Eve. We also found lots of time to snuggle. In separate blankies of course. 😉

11 wonderful years… so far. Many more in the works. And to think he thought I would be a good summer fling. 😉

Happy 11th Anniversary Love!

p.s. Some fun anniversary celebratory posts to follow in the next few days.

I have too many wonderful photos that do not see the light of day very often. It is so fun to pull them out and relive the memories.

This category is dedicated to all those who made my childhood wonderful. And to my children, who will hopefully feel the same way someday.

The first to be featured is one of my fav photos ever:

Me and my “girly pie” sisters. Ruth, Sarah and I. I believe this was the first time I ever quilted. I remember my job was to sit under the quilt and make sure the yarn was pulled all the way through so the knots did not bunch on the underside. I pretty much rocked that. I think I got to pose with the needle for the photo. I still have my quilt with my name stitched on the top. It’s a treasure. I stored it away for so long and then realized that was silly. Now my boys take turns sleeping under the warmth of that sturdy quilt. Sadly I also have Ruth’s right now (sorry Ruth! nothing like a public confession, no?). When we visited at Thanksgiving time it ended up in our van, hiding some Christmas presents. Ruth even reminded me to bring it in before we left. I noticed it was gone and thought Jim Bob had. Instead he had folded “my” quilt nicely and placed it in the back with our luggage. Ruth, I promise we will keep it safe until we see you next!

That front room at my grandparents was one of my favorites rooms. Big soft couches, Grandpa’s paintings on the wall, geese pillows and relatively quiet. My cousins and I would play imaginative games for hours and pour over my Grandma’s hardback children’s books with the DI stickers still on. How I loved the sunshine filtering through the curtains and the view of the river from that front room. Heaven.

Family – feel free to tell more of the story or your perspective. Friends – feel free to comment. Especially if it’s about the hair. 😉